In Land We Trust

This past year I came face to face with the devastating impacts of climate change. In June I celebrated my daughter’s wedding in Lytton during a record-breaking heatwave. Ten days later the town burnt to the ground, and they lost their apartment and all its contents. Five months later, on Sunday, November 14, my family and I returned from the Interior to Vancouver Island during the record-breaking rainfall event. Driving in the near constant heavy rains was challenging enough, but as I learned more, my family only narrowly escaped collapsed bridges, washouts, flooded roads and landslides as we detoured from the Coquihalla to Highway 1, then highways 5A, 3 and 7. My harrowing drive pales in significance compared to the tens of thousands who lost much, much more in the most destructive weather event in Canadian history to date.

Climate change has always been a driving force in my conservation work, the horrendous impacts of these events have given me a renewed sense of urgency for the Comox Valley Land Trust (CVLT) to implement its conservation priorities and I am seeking your support to make this happen in 2022.

Like you, we at CVLT want action on climate change. The good news is that we are doing just that. Through the land trust, you can join with other people who value conservation, care deeply about our planet, and want action. By supporting CVLT you are helping to protect forests, wetlands, and other threatened ecosystems right here in the Comox Valley. Every forest and wetland we protect from logging or development increases carbon sequestration and reduces emissions today, tomorrow and for generations to come.

One hundred years ago the Comox Valley’s big old-growth Douglas fir, cedar and spruce trees were logged. After these beautiful giants were harvested, the natural process of forest regeneration started. The seeds from the old-growth trees and smaller trees not harvested started to grow the next forest. Today these maturing forests are becoming the old-growth forests for future generations—IF THEY ARE PROTECTED. Logging and pressure from land development and agricultural expansion are quickly removing these forests just when they are reaching their full potential to sequester and store carbon and prevent rapid runoff from rain and melting snow.

Through science-based studies, CVLT identified the most ecologically valuable forests and wetlands in the Comox Valley. We now work with landowners, governments, foundations, individuals, and community groups to protect them. Currently, we have protected 270 hectares and have BIG PLANS to protect more. Opportunities to protect ecologically valuable land in the Comox Valley have been identified in the Morrison Creek Headwaters, the Perseverance Creek and Oyster River areas and elsewhere. To do this we need your help to increase our capacity to protect more land.

This year we launched our NATURAL CLIMATE SOLUTIONS FUND as a way to help grow our capacity to undertake conservation projects and protect more land. Will you join with others who want to protect more valuable carbon sequestering forests and wetlands in the Comox Valley and grow our NATURAL CLIMATE SOLUTIONS FUND?

There are many ways you can contribute. Becoming a monthly donor or making an annual gift really helps us build our capacity to ramp up our conservation efforts. Donations can be made online through CanadaHelps or by mailing us a cheque. If you are not already, we strongly encourage you to become a CVLT member. Donations made today and up to the end of this year qualify for a 2021 tax deduction.

Thank you for caring for our planet and our home here in the Comox Valley.

Yours in conservation,

Tim Ennis, Executive Director
Comox Valley Land Trust